THE BOOK OF JOB. BOOKS OF POETRY!

 IN JOB 1;1 WE ARE INTRODUCED TO TO JOB, A MAN BLAMELESS AND UPRIGHT.. HE FEARED GOD AND ESCHEWED EVIL. HE HAD SEVEN SONS AND THREE DAUGHTERS AND WAS VERY WEALTHY. IN MATERIAL THINGS HE LACKED NOTHING AFTER INTRODUCING US TO JOB AND HIS VARIOUS RELIGIOUS PRACTICES , THE HOLY SPIRIT PULLS BACK THE CURTAIN OF HEAVEN AND ALLOWS US TO LISTEN TO A CONVERSATION WHICH TAKES PLACE BETWEEN GOD AND SATAN. IN REPLY TO GOD'S QUESTION AS TO WHERE HE HAS BEEN, SATAN RESPONDS THAT HE HAS BEEN WALKING THROUGHOUT THE EARTH (vs.7). GOD THREW DOWN THE GAUNTLET OF
CHALLENGE: "HAST THOU CONSIDERED MY SERVANT JOB, THERE IS NONE LIKE HIM TO THE EARTH."  SATAN'S RESPONSE REPRESENTS THE GREATEST CALUMNY AGAINST GOD THAT HAD EVER BEEN DELIVERED . ITS GIST WAS THAT A PERSON WHO SERVED AND LOVED GOD WAS INTERESTED ONLY IN HIS REWARDS. ACCORDING TO SATAN, NO ONE WOULD LOVE GOD FOR WHO HE IS, IF YOU WERE NOT SO GOOD TO HIM, SATAN INTIMATED TO GOD, JOB WOULD CURSE YOU TO YOUR FACE. TO PROVE HIM WRONG, GOD THREW DOWN THE GAUNTLET: ALL THAT HE HATH IS IN THY POWER; ONLY UPON HIMSELF PUT NOT FORTH THY HAND"
SATAN DEPARTED AND TRAGEDY BEGAN TO FALL UPON JOB LIKE A TRIP HAMMER IN RAPID STACCO BLOWS. THE SABIANS ATTACKED (v15), FIRE FELL (vs16), THE CHALDEANS RAIDED (vs (17), THE HOUSE WAS BLOWN DOWN AND KILLED ALL HIS CHILDREN (vs,18). EACH REPORT CAME ON THE HEELS OF THE PRECEDING ONE. IN  A FEW MINUTES TIME, JOB LEARNED OF THE LOSS OF ALL HE VALUED; POSSESSIONS, CROPS, ANIMALS, SERVANTS, CHILDREN. YET HE DID NOT CURSE GOD OR SHAKE HIS FIST AT HIM. INSTEAD, HE TORE HIS ROBE, SHAVED HIS HEAD, AND FELL DOWN TO THE GROUND;  AND WORSHIPPED. HIS STATEMENT IN Vs. 21) IS THE ANSWER TO THE MOST PROFOUND ISSUE OF HUMAN EXISTENCE: "AND SAID, NAKED CAME I OUT OF MY MOTHER'S WOMB, AND NAKED SHALL I  RETURN THITHER: THE LORD GAVE AND THE LORD HAS TAKEN AWAY; BLESSED BE THE NAME OF THE LORD. IN ALL JOB SINNED NOT, NOR CHARGED ( ACCUSED)  GOD FOOLISHLY. WE WILL FIND THAT MUCH OF THE CONTENT OF THE BOOK OF JOB REVOLVED AROUND THE CONCEPT OF "THEODICY"  THEODICY COMES FROM TWO GREEK WORDS, THEOS, MEANING GOD, AN DICE MEANING JUSTICE. IN OTHER WORDS, HOW CAN WE VINDICATE THE JUSTICE OF GOD IN RELATION TO EVIL? HOW CAN WE JUSTIFY HOLINESS AND THE EXISTENCE OF GOD IN RELATION TO EVIL?  IT IS THE CONTINUING THEME OF THE BOOK. JOB HAD LOST ALL OF HIS POSSESSIONS BUT STILL HAD HIS HEALTH. CHAPTER 2 PULLS BACK THE CURTAIN ONCE AGAIN AND WE ARE NOW LISTENING TO ANOTHER MEETINGS IN THE HEAVENLIES. GOD POINTED OUT THAT
JOB "HOLDETH  FAST HIS INTEGRITY, ALTHOUGH THOU MOVEST ME AGAINST HIM, TO DESTROY HIM WITHOUT CAUSE. (vs.3). NO WONDER, " IS SATAN 'S REPLY, YOU HAVE NOT TOUCHED HIM PHYSICALLY,"  PUT FORTH THINE HAND NOW. AND TOUCH HIS BONE AND HIS FLESH.AFTER THIS JOB OPENED HIS MOUTH, AND CURSED HIS DAY, AND JOB SPAKE, AND SAID,  LET THE DAY PERISH WHEREIN I WAS BORN, AND THE NIGHT IN WHICH IT WAS SAID, THERE IS A MAN CHILD RECEIVED. LET THAT DAY BE DARKNESS WHERE IN I WAS BORN.LET THE SHADOW OF DEATH STAIN IT, LET A CLOUD DWELL UPON IT: LET THE BLACKNESS OF THE DAY TERRIFY IT. AGAIN GOD GAVE SATAN LIMITED POWER: BEHOLD HE IS IN THINE HAND, BUT SAVE HIS LIFE."
(VERSE (6). AS FOR THAT NIGHT, LET DARKNESS SEIZE UPON IT: LET IT NOT BE JOINED UNTO THE DAYS OF THE YEAR, LET IT NOT COME INTO THE NUMBER OF THE MONTHS. LO, LET THAT NIGHT BE SOLITARY, LET NO JOYFUL VOICE COME THEREIN. (VS:7). SATAN THEN AFFLICTED JOB WITH BOILS FROM THE SOULS OF HIS FEET TO THE CROWN OF HIS HEAD. JOB SET OUT ON  AN ASH HEAP AND SCRAPED HIMSELF WITH A POTSHERD ( A PIECE OF BROKEN POTTERY.), THE ONLY THING AVAILABLE AT THAT TIME TO SCRAPE THES CABS  FROM HIS BODY.  BY THIS TIME EVEN HIS WIFE HAD EXPERIENCED TOO MUCH,  AND SAID, " DOST THOU STILL RETAIN THINE INTEGRITY? CURSE GOD AND DIE." LATER ON WE WILL SEE JOB BEGINNING TO QUESTION AND CHALLENGE GOD, AND TO VACILLATE BETWEEN DESPAIR AND TRUST. BUT AT THIS POINT, HIS INTEGRITY IS INTACT. HE RESPONDED TO HIS WIFE: " THOU SPEAKEST AS ONE FOOLISH WOMEN SPEAKETH. " AND VERSE 10 ADDS, "JOB DID NOT SIN WITH HIS LIPS. "  JOB HAD THREE FRIENDS WHO HEARD OF HIS CALAMITY. I BELIEVE THEY WERE ALSO RIGHTEOUS MEN. THEIR POSITION AND THEIR THEOLOGY WERE SHAKEN TO THE CORE BECAUSE THEY BELIEVED THAT IF JOB WAS RIGHTEOUS  AND ALL THIS HAD BEFALLEN HIM, THEY ALSO MIGHT EXPERIENCE SUDDEN CALAMITY. THEY HAD TO PROVE THAT THERE WAS SIN IN JOB'S LIFE IN ORDER TO VINDICATE  THEIR EASTERN THEOLOGY. AT FIRST BECAUSE OF THE BOILS AND DUST, THEY DID NOT RECOGNIZE HIM. THEY WEPT AND TORE THEIR ROBES AND THREW DUST ON THEIR HEADS IN TYPICAL ORIENTAL MOURNING.  THEY SAT ON THE GROUND FOR  SEVEN DAYS AND SEVEN NIGHTS, NOT SAYING A WORD. DO YOU KNOW OF ANYONE WHO WOULD SIT WITH YOU A FULL WEEK BECAUSE HE GRIEVED WITH AND FOR YOU?  I CANNOT RECALL THIS EVER HAPPENING  IN MY LIFETIME. IN THEIR OWN WAY JOB'S FRIENDS CARED ABOUT HIM. THEIR UNSELFISH BEHAVIOR CONCERN AND COMPASSION... DEMONSTRATED THEIR
 THEIR GENUINE CONCERN FOR HIM